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I understand that the next step was
producing the first album "Original
Version" (2001). Tell us about how you made
this record and how you went about
releasing/distributing it..
The first album by The Small Axe People was
ready to go by the end of That year. Rae Wackies
came and mixed some tracks in the middle of 2001
and Roger Dalke came up with the title of the
album - 'Original Version'. When it came to its
release I just wanted to put it out on a small
run, no more than 200 CDs. But John Mason at
Reggae Retro claimed he could get a lot more done
at a very good price, and set up distribution
through SRD. This is where things went seriously
wrong, SRD did OK with the CD, but John Mason
seems to think that's it OK not to pay people. To
this day the matter is not resolved.
 Regarding
the music on the album there is a drum machine,
but that's it, there are no samples on 'Original
Version'. It's a version album, not a dub album.
Dub concentrates on bass and drum, and studio FX.
My interest is elsewhere. The interplay between
the piano and organ for example. Reggae people
don't really know what version is. Even albums
that are really Version sets, are sold as Dub or
instrumental - but they are not either. 'Musical
Bones' and 'Return Of Wax' are version albums.
Rae Wackies told me early on that I wouldn't be
able to get the kind of sound I wanted with a four
track and he was right. Reggae sounds simple but
its not, you need a band or a minimum of a eight
tracks to get it right.
 But
theres a dub version of the album too..
Dub kinda lost its appeal to me I wasn't
interested in making Dub, there is a dub to
'Original Version' 'Jazzbo T At The Controls.
Which is Roger Dalke using the Cool Edit program
to dub up the tracks. Once again its very minimal,
but I like it a lot.
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